Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Trial By Fire. And Guess Who Gets Burned When David Hernandez Fails the Test.
I thought of calling this post "Kicking the Can," because it was the phrase Mac Kennedy used to describe the Commission's "decision-making" regarding the manager. And really, this discussion was only the most caricaturish example of a number of stumbles and bumbles the apparent new majority of this Commission made.
I'm getting ahead of myself. The Tuesday, May 19, meeting started with Dan Samaria providing a painfully extended advertisement for some organization of which he is a member. And he seems to want the Village to make a donation to his organization. Yeah, no conflict of interest there. I get appeals all day, every day, from charitable organizations that want something ($) and are desperate. There are countless numbers of them out there. But Dan Samaria wants us as a Village to support his own organization.
And then, the others talked. And talked, and talked, and talked. Everyone knew we had a very large agenda, but no one paced him- or herself, so we'd move things along. The only one who had almost nothing to say was Will Tudor. And it wasn't a good thing. He had nothing to say, because he had nothing to offer. He never does. When he says he's got no comment, or when he fumfers, it always comes to nothing. His offerings are things like wanting the fewest possible meetings, so he doesn't have to be bothered to waste his time on the Village. And he doesn't want to change anything, because he can't be bothered to pay that much attention. Ginny O'Halpin had very little to say, too, and it was for the same reason. She doesn't appear to know what's going on, and she doesn't want to do anything, because she doesn't know what to do, or how to do it. In a slightly different setting, we'd be talking about "a deer in the headlights."
Dan Samaria had a little to say, but it never went anywhere. Some of it started out sounding like it had more substance than what Tudor sputters, but ultimately, there was no meaningful contribution.
The brains of the current operation are Roxy Ross and Mac Kennedy, and you can count for yourself how many people that is. Out of five, it's a minority. And there you have it.
The really dumb, and really frustrating and infuriating, conversation was about finding a new manager. The three deer were afraid to do anything. Ginny, who spoke last, only said it was "premature" to find a permanent manager. But since she isn't really talking about anything, she can't explain why it's premature, or what she's waiting for. Dan Samaria and Will Tudor spelled out more clearly how dimwitted this got. Dan spoke first, and he suggested sort of that we should have more confidence in David Hernandez, and more importantly, that since we're just coming into budget season, and hurricane season, we really see what he can do. If he's screwing up now, which Dan was unable to appreciate, maybe he'll do better when the task is much more complicated, and the stakes are even higher. Not everyone employs that type of logic. But Will Tudor does.
If you want to know how David Hernandez reacted to this discussion, he didn't. He wasn't there. We have a quickly approaching deadline regarding a critical issue that might cost the Village hundreds of thousands of dollars, and David decided not to attend this meeting. That's a hell of an advertisement David offers for himself. And after our courageous new majority decided not even to start looking for a legitimate manager, because David Hernandez is doing a great job, it was Ginny who reassured that maybe we'd get through part of the crisis, because our police chief would rise to the occasion. So our interim manager isn't getting the job done, and we need the police chief to help out, but we don't need to look for a real manager? As I said, not everyone employs "logic" like that.
So now, when David fails even more dramatically, it will cost and damage...us. The Rosses can't bail us out forever. There's no leadership on the Commission, and they don't even make any sense. They could listen to Roxy or Mac, but they don't.
If we have any brains, and if Will Tudor has had enough fun, after his one reason for being on the Commission was frustrated (it was made clear to him he has to have a real driveway), then either he won't run for re-election, or we won't vote him in. We're stuck with Ginny for two and a half more years. We have another chance to have Mac on the Commission, if he chooses to run again. He talks too much, but he's very smart, and he understands the issues and how to get things done. And he doesn't let people get away with being dolts, at least not without their hearing about it. I feel very confident we're not getting Roxy Ross back. What a loss. What a tragedy. What a treasure she's been to the Village.
Five and a half hours, if you want to know.
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This cannot be normal! Their has to be a better, quicker way to get through these meetings. In the real world these meetings would never work. In my opinion people show up to these meetings unprepared. You have an agenda, you know what will be discussed, you have your thoughts and opinions, state your case, vote and move on. I think we spent what seemed like 2 hours last night talking about village attorney and manager recruitment. Is it really that complicated? On another note I am sick and tired of people using the Covid crisis as an excuse not to get shit done, just sayin!
ReplyDeleteAmen, Art. COVID is the excuse to not get things done today. The upcoming election is an excuse to not get things done tomorrow. For those who simply don't want to get anything done, they'll think of another excuse when those two are exhausted. And clearly, several commissioners arrive unprepared with nothing to discuss or contribute. Most of the attorney/manager sections were simply spent trying to make elected officials understand that they have an OBLIGATION to fill those positions. It's in the Charter, and they are two key positions that get most of the actual work done around here. So now we have an unvetted person filling the CEO position with no end date. As I stated last night, if he fucks something up or gets in over his head or anything goes sideways, he won't be to blame. Fingers will rightfully be pointed squarely at the commission. It will be "our" fault. Even though I voted on the right side of that issue, I'll own that blame too. The buck stops with the commission and no one else. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but of course we have to 'prepare for the worst and hope for the best.'
ReplyDeleteArt,
DeleteI did a post not long ago about one of our neighbors, John Hornbuckle. I know John, and the meetings he led as mayor were the first I remember after I moved here in 2005. I think the mayor just before him was Ted Walker, but he died not terribly long after I moved here, and I don't remember him. The point was about John Hornbuckle meetings. And I'm going to make an open confession here. The meetings John led rarely lasted more than two hours. On occasion, they lasted 2 1/2 hours, if the agenda was bigger, or if items were more complicated. Commissioners arrived with their packets, which they dealt with on their own. We didn't have a manager then. Commissioners got materials from the clerk, and they had to figure it out for themselves. There was almost never much discussion, and votes were commonly unanimous. I found this unbelievable. It seemed to me impossible that everyone was in agreement, with little discussion, unless they were all violating Sunshine, and talking about this, and coming to agreement, outside meetings. I said as much in e-mails to the Commissioners. No one ever responded to me, either to tell me I was right, or to tell me I was wrong. It remains a big mystery.
Richard Ederr is a close friend of mine. He was mayor for about 8-10 years before I moved here. My impression from talking to him is that meetings were relatively short, and very efficient, in his time, too. Richard is a very talented and wise person, and either people just agreed with him, or he had a way of encouraging relatively quick and satisfactory consensus. And at least according to Richard, the Village ran very well in his years on the Commission.
So no, this is not in any way "normal." I'm totally crazy about Roxy Ross, and Chuck, and I think they're magnificent neighbors, and the closest of friends, but I want John Hornbuckle back. Or Richard Ederr. Someone needs to knock sense into the heads of three knuckleheads who are on the Commission now. And throw water on everyone, to stop them from listening to themselves talk. The one exception I feel forced to make is Roxy, whose wisdom, intelligence, and organization,, not to mention her devotion and decency, are off the charts. As much as I wish she would be more concise, she doesn't really ever say anything that doesn't need to be said.
No, it's not complicated at all. It's precisely what Mac just said: it's the explicit job of the Commission. They just don't want to do the job. And it's because they can't. Apart from Rox and Mac, the rest are incapable of doing this. And they know it. That's why they're trying to turf it to some other Commission. But Ginny and Dan can't do that. They'll be on that next Commission that they wish would do a little heavy lifting for them. This buck will stop with them at some point. And in the meantime, the Village is poorly served, just at a time that we need really expert service. David is not an expert. He's the person Ginny knew of, and approached, that allowed her to press the eject button on Krishan the first chance she got. David is in over his head. (Never mind that he's arrogant.) That fact was even acknowledged last night, by Ginny, who talked about how we would need Luis Cabrera to help. We don't need the police chief to pick up after the interim manager, who isn't a manager. We just need a proper manager, and we should find one in the proper way, as we always have.
This is what you call a failure, but really more accurately an abdication, of leadership.
Fred
Fred you are spot on about meetings under Richard and under John. They were concise and productive and non-combative. I tried to think about what the difference was - because we had quite a a variety of personalities on the commission even then. What we didn't have is the spiteful obstructionists whose egos far exceed their capabilities as we've had lately.
ReplyDeleteGinny is the biggest disappointment. I didn't expect her to be Mac or Rox but I didn't think she'd turn into a female Wil. Before the election she was all about how there wouldn't be an "us against them" mentality anymore....that sure didn't last long. That's exactly what we have once again. And the Covid-19 excuse is getting real old. We're likely to be dealing with it in one form or another for a long, long time. We can't just put everything on hold.
Her comments that it was "premature" to advertise for the attorney and manager of course made no sense. How can it possibly be premature to advertise for two open positions?
And in another typical Wil moment. The attorney told them they couldn't add a provision for a special magistrate to the code board ordinance because (as Rox had to point out) that would change the title and require them to basically start over and re-advertise. Yet Wil voted against the ordinance since the magistrate wasn't part of it.....no matter that the attorney said it couldn't be done! Wil doesn't concern himself with those minor details.
I have sort of mixed feelings about Ginny. As a pure matter, she is a huge disappointment, as you rightly say, and she brings absolutely nothing to the table. But I didn't vote for her, or advocate that anyone else should vote for her, because of any illusions I had (which I didn't) about her abilities. I voted for her, because without her, and Mac, we would have had Rafael, which means we would still have Tracy, and anything I can think of (I'll get back to you about Steve Bernard, Ron Coyle, Barbara Watts, and a few other people) would be better than Tracy. So I got the main thing I wanted, and I don't wish I hadn't gotten it.
DeleteYes, this "the coronavirus is lurking, so no one can do anything" nonsense is really old. And it makes painfully clear the lack of imagination, initiative, and dedication of the people who hide behind it. Do the people who think we can't go find a new manager, although, as Rox pointed out, those same people didn't think we couldn't find a new attorney, eat? How do they make food acquisition happen? Will's excuse for why we couldn't start last night's meeting at 6:00 was that he would be working, or "at work." Oh, so even Will functions vocationally. Why can't the rest of the world function vocationally?
Will is totally empty. The only seeming exception is his initiatives regarding the Charter, whatever that's about. And he fixates. He's told himself that we need a magistrate, for whatever are his reasons, and if we don't agree to get one, then he doesn't want anything.
Will really very much needs to go. He is completely useless and meaningless. And he's obstructive. He joins up with Ginny and Dan, neither of whom know what they're doing, or what to do, or how to do it, and they circle their wagons. At the Village's expense. He really needs to resign. As of two weeks ago, we can fill his seat by appointment, and we don't need an election. Someone will either dig in, or just keep the seat warm until November. Funny enough, Chester called me within the past hour, to talk about this post (he agrees completely), and about how we need Will, Dan, and Ginny out. Even just getting rid of Will changes the ability of the Commission to function. I told Chester I was sure even he would agree to sit in for a few months. I would. Probably you would. I bet Art Gonzalez or either of the Raymonds would. There are lots of people who would stop this nonfunctional and terrified nonsense.
And the fact that anyone of us you mentioned would gladly fill the position and get us out of this current stagnation is exactly why Wil won't resign. Obviously progress is not his thing and he'll do anything to get in its way. Except of course for his precious policies and procedures.
ReplyDelete